The present invention relates to a data communication method for communicating data of a large size, such as a still picture, a moving picture and audio data, via a networks and, more particularly, to a facsimile communication method and a facsimile machine, which transmit image data like facsimile data using an e-mail system over a network.
Recently, for the efficiency of works in an office, an information processing apparatuses provided in the office are connected via a LAN (Local Area Network) installed in the office. A facsimile machine receives facsimile data which has been sent via a public telecommunication network from another facsimile machine. This facsimile machine converts the received facsimile data to an e-mail for a personal destination and transmits this e-mail to an information processing terminal on the LAN to which the facsimile machine is connected.
Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 6-164645 discloses a facsimile communication system which performs such facsimile communications.
FIG. 29 schematically illustrates the facsimile communication system disclosed in the Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 6-164645. A plurality of information processing terminals 182-1, 182-2 and 182-3 and a network connection type facsimile machine (NETFAX) 183 are connected to a LAN 181. The NETFAX 183 connects to an ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network).
Another facsimile machine scans a transmission original to read the image data of the original. The image data read by this facsimile machine is sent to the information processing terminal 182-1 on the LAN via the ISDN 184. The facsimile machine transmits the image data via the ISDN 184 to the NETFAX 183 on the LAN with the telephone number of the NETFAX 183. At this time, the e-mail address of the information processing terminal 182-1 is set to a subaddress included in a number informing service provided by the ISDN and is transmitted simultaneously.
Upon reception of image data from the facsimile machine, the NETFAX 183 converts the received image data to the transmission format of an e-mail and sends it to the e-mail address of the information processing terminal 182-1 that has been input as the subaddress. In an existing e-mail system built on the LAN 181, an e-mail affixed with image data to be facsimiled is temporarily saved at a relay site or a reception site. That is, in the process of transmitting an e-mail (facsimile data including image data) to the information processing terminal 182-1 from the NETFAX 183, the e-mail including image data is temporarily saved at a relay site or a reception site on the network.
As facsimile data is image data read from a transmission original, however, it has a large data size. If facsimile data is color image data, the data size becomes larger. Facsimile data with a large data size has a problem of greatly using up the capacities of a relay site and a reception site.
In the case where the NETFAX 183 makes multi-casting of an e-mail of facsimile data to multiple information processing terminals on the network, the facsimile data which has a larger data size than an ordinary e-mail is transmitted to every site, there is a problem of increasing the traffic of the network.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile communication method and a facsimile communication machine, which can significantly suppress an increase in the traffic on a network by transmitting facsimile data via a LAN, WAN, Internet or other networks, or which do not use up the memory resource at a relay site and a reception site for an e-mail.
A facsimile communication method according to this invention which transmits facsimile data to a reception terminal from a facsimile machine via a communication network, a transmission process in the facsimile machine including the following steps:
(a) a step of saving image data of an original to be transmitted as facsimile data in a storage;
(b) a step of generating access information data for access to the image data, saved in the storage, from the reception terminal via the communication network;
(c) a step of sending the access information data to the reception terminal by an e-mail; and
(d) a step of transmitting the image data in the storage to the reception terminal from the facsimile machine by a communication protocol of a point-to-point data transfer form upon reception of an access request for the image data from the reception terminal.
A facsimile machine according to this invention acquires an e-mail address of a reception terminal, destined for the facsimile data, and saves image data of an original to be transmitted as facsimile data in a storage. Access information data for access to the image data, saved in the storage, from the reception terminal via the communication network is generated, and the access information data is sent to the e-mail address of the reception terminal by an e-mail. Upon reception of an access request for the image data from the reception terminal, the image data in the storage is transmitted to the reception terminal by a communication protocol of a point-to-point data transfer form.
According to this invention, only access information data for image data registered in a storage in a network is sent to a reception terminal by an e-mail, and image data is not sent directly to a transmission destination. Even in the case where large image data is transmitted to multiple destinations, therefore, it is unnecessary to send the same data to multiple sites so that the mail spools of destination sites are not occupied.
According to a facsimile communication method embodying this invention, a transmission process in a facsimile machine includes the following steps:
(a) a step of saving image data of an original to be transmitted as facsimile data in a server located on a network;
(b) a step of generating access information data for access to the image data, saved in the server, from the reception terminal via the communication network; and
(c) a step of sending the access information data to the reception terminal by an e-mail.
Further, a process in the server includes the following steps:
(d) a step of saving the image data received from the facsimile machine; and
(e) a step of transmitting the image data to the reception terminal by a communication protocol of a point-to-point data transfer form upon reception of an access request for the image data from the reception terminal.
A facsimile machine according to this invention acquires an e-mail address of a reception terminal on the communication network, and registers image data of an original to be transmitted as facsimile data in a server located on the communication network. Access information data for access to the image data, registered in the server, from the reception terminal via the communication network is generated, and the access information data is sent by e-mail to the e-mail address of the reception terminal. The server receives an access request sent out from the reception terminal and transmits the image data to the reception terminal by a communication protocol of a point-to-point data transfer form.
According to this invention, since it is unnecessary to register image data in a facsimile machine, a large-capacity hard disk can be removed from the facsimile machine so that the structure can be simplified.